Between Burger Bites...

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Thanks, Marc, for taking the time to point this out. We tend to forget what our holidays are about and treat them as just an excuse for picnics and sales at the mall. Labor Day gets the same treatment.

I've been watching the National Memorial Day concert on PBS. It's too scripted, a bit overblown, and a bit maudlin, but at least ONE of the networks has managed to remember the meaning of the day.

with the great respect for, and best wishes to our vets

Posted by: Thomas Schmeling at May 26, 2008 12:37 AM

Marc,

Today Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts decorated and saluted each and all individual marked veteran grave sites on the Island of Oahu with an American flag and hand-made Hawaiian lei to show aloha for Memorial Day. Tomorrow formal Memorial Day ceremonies will commence at Punchbowl National and Oahu Veterans cemeteries, USS Arizona and USS Missouri.

This is also the weekend that a Japanese tradition of floating candle lit lanterns to honor those departed is performed at Ala Moana Park Beach at sunset. Over 2,000 lanterns are floated out to sea with prays, blessing and respect to the departed no matter what ethnicity. Individual lanterns can carry personal messages to departed. Very moving service! Average 40,000 to 60,000 people attend and the park and beach is clean when everyone leaves!

Posted by: Ken at May 26, 2008 2:39 AM

Marc-Thank you for making this important statement.This is not the 4th of July,which is a joyous occasion.I don't feel like Memorial Day should be party time.I remember some of the people I served with who didn't make it back and those families today who are receiving bad news.Bloggers especially should realize they might well not have a venue to speak their minds without the losses incurred on the nation's behalf by ordinary people.

Posted by: joe bernstein at May 26, 2008 11:25 AM

We are truly blessed to live in the country we do.
We live in the country we do because of the sacrifice of those we honor today.
A heartfelt Thank You!

Posted by: Tim at May 26, 2008 11:30 AM

I send a very deep and sincere thanks to all the brave men and women who laid it all on the line so that we can live our lives free. Freedom isn't free.

And.. a big FU to Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Jack Reed, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and all of the Defeatocrats, naysayers, appeasers, traitors, and political opportunists who sold out our soldiers. Please try to remember them at election time.

Posted by: Citizen Critic at May 26, 2008 1:42 PM

Nice nonpartisan posting Marc

Thanking ALL who died, Liberals, Conservatives,Independents of any race Relgion or sexual orientation.

To bad that Citizen Critic,had to add
Right Wing, insults into it.

Posted by: Virgil at May 26, 2008 5:39 PM

Virgil,

I agree that partisanship is the problem. When our country is at war, it needs to stand together and 100% behind the men and women in our armed forces.

If you want me to whitewash and excuse the politicians who don't do that, I am sorry, I won't --especially on Memorial Day.

Posted by: Citizen Critic at May 26, 2008 8:50 PM

CC, it was Bush and Cheney and their enablers who sold out our fighting men and women.
But what creeps me out most is when they attack those past and current military members who dare point out what a folly our invasion of Iraq was, and attack them in even more vicious terms than they do those civilians who oppose the war. Those military members who point out the damage this war has done to our standing in the world and our ecomony are true American patriots, along with those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Posted by: rhody at May 26, 2008 10:32 PM

How can it be folly to remove a brutal dictator and free 30 million people? The shortsightedness is alarming.

Again, we should all stand together, behind our President and behind our troops --veterans, politicians, and ordinary civilians.

Iraq will be a success, but it will take decades, just like it did to rebuild Europe. Our domestic divisions threaten that success.

Eastern Europe took 50 years to free from the Nazis and then the Soviets. Was it worth it?